But she had already jerked back into place, her back ramrod stiff, feeling as if her head might literally explode off her shoulders. She debated getting up and walking out in front of everyone, but decided that was too easy for Tom. So she waited. For what, she had no idea. Just sat there, gripping the table, her heart beating harder and harder as her fury raced.
And then Tom handed it to her on a silver platter. He mentioned “his” idea for a superhighway and pipeline across Texas, one that would bring jobs to struggling areas and new lanes for commerce from north to south. “Now, my opponents are going to argue against it,” he said, shaking his head with a sad little laugh. “But you know my opponents. Phil Harbaugh would sell this state to Mexico if he could, and frankly, Russ Erwin has his head so far up a tree, he’s sucking sap. It’s hard to listen to someone who’d rather do good for all the lizards in this state than the people?” Tom added, and nodded his appreciation of the loud applause to that statement.
That was the moment Rebecca realized she was standing, her arm raised high in the air. “Rebecca!” Pat hissed at the same moment Tom noticed her standing there with her arm raised high above her head. But Rebecca ignored Pat and glared at Tom, who seemed startled, and looked around for someone to tell him what was going on.
“Senator Masters!” she called in a voice that was, remarkably, as clear as the summer night.
Tom could not ignore her now, and said unevenly, “I think Rebecca has an important announcement. Is that right?”
“No,” she said, lowering her arm. “I have an important question.”
A murmur went through the crowd, and Tom cleared his throat, glanced helplessly at Bud, and thereby signed his own death warrant. “Okay—”
“About this superhighway pipeline you have planned . . . what do you say to all the ranchers out there who will be displaced in the name of progress? You know who I’m talking about, right? Ranchers whose families settled Texas and have known nothing but a ranching way of life for generations? And then, as a follow-up question, could you please tell us what you will say to all those economically depressed areas when the thing is built and the jobs go away?”
A hush fell over the crowd as everyone waited for his response. Tom glared at Matt as if he had asked the question.
“I’m sorry, Senator, but I didn’t hear your response,” Rebecca continued, wildly out of control and loving every minute of it. “Oh, and another thing—have you told the Three Nines Ranch, our host for the evening, that the superhighway will cross the southern corner of their acreage where they still graze cattle?”
Tom laughed nervously as he glared at Matt. “All good questions, Rebecca,” he said. “I think we’ve got some answers for you, right, Matt?”
Matt looked up at Rebecca. She couldn’t read his expression as he slowly came to his feet. It didn’t matter, she tried to tell herself. She had done what she had to do. He could be mad, but she had to do it for her, not anyone else. Matt could do that smooth speak and get Tom out of trouble like he was good at doing, Rebeca didn’t care. She’d had enough.
But she wished, that just once, someone would stand beside her. Just once.
“Well, Tom, I’d like to say that we have some good answers,” Matt said, looking at Rebecca, and then, so subtle that she almost missed it, he winked at her. Winked at her! “But I don’t have any, and frankly, I’d like to hear your answer to Ms. Lear’s questions. Personally, I think a pipeline that long is a pretty dangerous idea. And I don’t understand why this highway is such a good idea. I mean, we’ve already got a major interstate running from Dallas to Brownsville. You think there is enough over-the-road commerce to support two superhighways?”
A buzz had started in the crowd; people around them were talking excitedly, and Tom looked as if he had suddenly awakened to find himself in a foreign land. He madly looked about for someone to help him out of his mess, but everyone around him was confused about what was happening.
Not Rebecca. She had never loved anyone as much in her life as she did that moment, and she tapped Matt on the arm, smiling gratefully. “You wanna blow this pop stand?” she asked.
Matt laughed. “You think we have a choice?” he said, and with another wink, put her hand on his arm and escorted her through a sea of tables, a sea of people who had paid a small fortune to be here. She smiled at them all as if she was a reigning beauty queen on her last walk as someone took the stage behind them and announced the music would begin again shortly.